{"id":2786,"date":"2017-03-27T18:50:42","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T09:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2017-03-27\/2786"},"modified":"2017-03-27T18:50:42","modified_gmt":"2017-03-27T09:50:42","slug":"meeting-ram-and-krish-kulkarni-in-tokyo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2017-03-27\/2786","title":{"rendered":"Meeting Ram and Krish Kulkarni in Tokyo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 32mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nOld Friends<\/span>\n“<\/span>old”<\/span> as in “<\/span>since a long<\/span> time ago”<\/span>, and “<\/span>old”<\/span> as in “<\/span>old farts”<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

I made a weekend trip to Tokyo to visit two old friends also visiting Tokyo, brothers Ram and Krish Kulkarni. (“<\/span>Ram”<\/span>, short for\n“<\/span>Ramchandera”<\/span>, rhymes with “<\/span>prom”<\/span>)<\/p>\n\n

Ram has been my best friend for 30 years, since grad school at the University of New Hampshire. When I then<\/span> moved to Japan<\/a>, his twin brother Krish, who was at the time a graduate<\/span>\nstudent at the University of Tokyo, picked me up at the airport.<\/p>\n\n

When I got married almost 20 years ago, Ram was living<\/span> near Mt. Fuji and came down to Kyoto to be my\nbest man. Fumie and I were<\/span> at his wedding in Ahmedabad, India, the previous year.<\/p>\n\n

I hadn't seen Ram since a visit<\/span> to his house<\/a> three years ago. I hadn't<\/span>\nseen Krish since a visit<\/span> at Kyoto Station as he was passing through the year prior to that.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>800 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSnowy Mountains of Shiga<\/span>\nfrom the window of the bullet train\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

I never tire of looking out the window of a bullet<\/span> train<\/a> to watch\nthe countryside pass at 300kph (185mph). I thought<\/span> I'd done various “<\/span>out the window of a bullet<\/span> train”<\/span> posts in the past,\nbut at the moment the only ones I can<\/span> find are\nthis<\/a> and this<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nInviting Temple<\/span>\nnestled near the top of the mountain\ntaken while moving at 258 kph (160 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

These kind of scenes catch my eye as I think<\/span> of the lovely road that must lead up to it. In the case<\/span> of this temple,\nit turns out that there are three routes up, including this Strava segment<\/a>. The location<\/span> is a ways<\/span> beyond where the cycling races<\/a> were held the other day... I should<\/span> be able to get there in about two hours. (It had taken the train 12 minutes.)<\/p>\n\n

I didn't do much in Tokyo except hang out with Ram, Krish, and Akemi, Krish's friend of 30 years who kindly let us crash at her\nplace for the duration. But we did<\/span> go out for a walk<\/span> one day.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>100 sec, f<\/span>\/8, ISO 280 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLittle Inari Shrine<\/span>\nnot quite a dazzling<\/span> as its Kyoto parent<\/a> shrine\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 28mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/8, ISO 110 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nOut-of-Focus Tokyo Tower<\/span>\nrushing during the red light, I screwed<\/span> up what could have been a nice<\/span> photo opportunity\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 55mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 2000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGinza Dusk<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>100 sec, f<\/span>\/3.5, ISO 4500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nFood Arrives<\/span>\nat the Raj Mahal Restaurant, Ginza Tokyo\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Ram got along famously with the waiter, or so it seemed from their happy animated banter in Hindi. Thankfully for me, the\nwaiter also spoke Japanese and English.<\/p>\n\n

I know little about Indian food, so I was<\/span> happy to let Ram and Krish order, and was not disappointed. We all agreed<\/span> that it was\nvery, very good.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>100 sec, f<\/span>\/3.5, ISO 5600 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 44mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 4000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSweet Chai<\/span>\na most splendid end to the meal\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Krish currently lives in India, while Ram is currently on long-term assignment in Europe, so we never know when we'll be able\nto meet, but with both of them, the years melt away when we get together, so whenever it is, this meeting will feel like\nyesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I made a weekend trip to Tokyo to visit two old friends also visiting Tokyo, brothers Ram and Krish Kulkarni. (\"Ram\", short for \"Ramchandera\", rhymes with \"prom\")<\/p>

Ram has been my best friend for 30 years, since grad school at the University of New Hampshire. When I then moved to Japan, his twin brother Krish, who was at the time a graduate student at the University of Tokyo, picked me up at the airport.<\/p>

When I got married almost 20 years ago, Ram was living near Mt. Fuji and came down to Kyoto to be my best man. Fumie and [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}